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Old Dochia, or Why March Weather is so Changeable

Have you ever wondered why early March weather is can change from spring to freezing and back again, all in a day? The answer is Old Dochia–a Romanian figure that personifies mankind’s impatience in waiting for the return of spring. Her holiday is celebrated in Romania from March 1 to March 9, which was the spring equinox in the old folk calendar. In Romania, it is traditional not to work on March 1 because Dochia might get angry and send bad weather! It is also the first of nine days dedicated to old women. In one custom, women choose one of the first nine days of March, and then find out what their luck will be depending on the weather of that day.

According to legend, Old Dochia has a married son, named Dragomir or Dragobete. Dochia is unkind to her daughter-in-law, and sends her off on a futile quest to pick strawberries in the forest on the first day of March. Along the road, the girl meets an old man – many versions of the story make it clear that he is God – who gives her a bunch of strawberries, which she brings home to her mother-in-law. When Dochia sees the berries, she thinks that spring has come early. She leaves for the mountains with her son and her goats, dressed in nine (or twelve, in some areas) lambskins.

Since it is warm when she begins her journey, she starts to take off her coats. But, since Spring hadn’t really come, it rained on the mountain, and then became very cold. Dochia and her goats perish from the cold, turning into ice, which later become rock. Her son, who was playing the flute, freezes to death with a piece of ice in his mouth. Some legends say that this is how Babele, a rock formation called “The Old Women” in the Bucegi Mountains were formed.

In other versions of the story, old Dochia begins to take off her coats one by one as she climbs the mountain, shaking them out causing the changing weather that is characteristic of early March. Being ill-tempered, Dochia argued with the shepherds, who had warned her of the bad weather. She also argued with the god March, who was angry and borrowed some bad days from his brother, February, to turn old Dochia into ice.

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